


The Day Before School Starts

by Theyisms



Series: Senior Year [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Best Friends, Emotional Support, Eventual Romance, Fluff, Hayner/Roxas - Freeform, High School, Insecurity, M/M, Roxas/Hayner - Freeform, Roxner, Slow Burn, Teenage Dorks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-17 09:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20618753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theyisms/pseuds/Theyisms
Summary: Hayner sticks his foot in his mouth. Roxas is there for him like he always is.





	The Day Before School Starts

**Author's Note:**

> Did someone say slow burn Roxner series? Here I am to give you content. I know it’s hard out there for Roxner lovers so I want to help contribute. Enjoy!

**Senior Year Resolutions by H, O, R, P**

_ H: Stop being a baby and ask them out _

_ O: Perfect marks all year on every assignment _

_ R: Find the Winner ice cream stick and send it to Lea _

_ P: Find a place where I truly belong _

* * *

Olette frowns as she looks at Pence’s resolution. “Pence, why’s your resolution so sad?”

Roxas and Hayner lean over his each of Pence’s shoulders to see what’s written on the paper in front of him, then share a look of confusion and hurt. Not for themselves, but for their friend. Roxas is especially confused. Did he feel like he didn’t belong in their group? How long has he felt this way, and why didn’t he ever tell them?

“It’s not, really. It probably sounds much worse than what it is. I’m not emo or anything. I just wanna find a place where I _ fit, _ya know?”

“You don’t think you fit here with us?” Olette asks softly. Roxas can see the worry on her face as clear as day and hear the frustration in her voice.

“Lette...”

“Are we making you feel left out? You can tell us if we are,” Roxas adds.

“Guys!” Pence laughs. “I only meant that I want to find my niche. Olette gets along really well with the kids in her AP classes, Hayner plays soccer and the team loves him, Roxas gets along with everyone, and I’m...I’m Pence.”

“Yeah, and that’s awesome! Look,” Hayner uses his foot to push one of the crates closer to Pence and sits on it, “You have a place right here, bud. All of us—we’re like a family. We all have a role to play. I’m the hot sporty one, Olette’s the nice smart one, and Roxas is the short baby child who‘s just trying to find his way in a world made for tall people.”

“For every short joke you make at my expense, I’m taking a year off your life. At this rate, you’ll die at 25,” Roxas frowns.

The taller blond ignores him as he slaps Pence on the shoulder. “You have the most important role of all: you’re the comic relief.”

Pence’s face falls. Roxas notices immediately. “Oh...”

“Yeah! You’re also the fallback guy. You _ always _ come through with the answers for our homework assignments, you know a bunch of random shit nobody else knows and it comes in handy, you’re really techy and that’s useful for when my phone starts glitching out, you know _ Spanish _ and that’s really cool. You’re here when we need you and you never let us down. It doesn’t get more important than that.”

The dark haired boy purses his lips as he looks down at the ground. Roxas notices that he looks a little pale...and upset. He’s never seen Pence look like that before. He’s usually always smiling and happy. “Or maybe I’m here _ because _you all need me,” he says softly.

Roxas grimaces. That’s definitely not the impression he wants to give off. It sounds a little mean when put like that. “I wouldn’t say—”

“_Exactly_. See, you get it,” Hayner grins.

The corner of Pence’s mouth turns up into a weak, half smile. It doesn’t look the least bit real. “Yeah.”

The second Roxas senses that something is deeply wrong, he looks over at Hayner, silently pleading with him to stop talking. He glances at Olette to see that she’s doing the same. Hayner has a bad habit of sticking his foot in his mouth and never knows when to shut up. He sighs. “That’s not at all what Hayner means.”

“I know what I’m _ saying, _Rox. I’m not stupid.”

“Yes the hell you are, shut _ up_,” he hisses between clenched teeth.

Pence chuckles humorlessly as he shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it, Rox. I get it.” He slowly stands and picks up his messenger bag. “I’m gonna head out. See you guys tomorrow.”

Olette pouts. “Please don’t go.”

“I have stuff to do. Sorry.”

The three of them watch in silence as Pence leaves their Usual Spot. Roxas reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose. Olette frowns as she smacks Hayner in the back of his head. “What is wrong with you?! You’re such a doofus!”

“I think you just answered your own question,” Roxas mutters.

Hayner clutches the back of his head. “What did I do?!”

“Seriously?! Comic relief?! You hurt his feelings, you fucking moron! He probably thinks we don’t care about him at all and we’re just using him!”

“Not gonna lie, that did sound pretty harsh, Hayner.”

The blond scoffs as he looks back and forth between his two friends. “Why are you guys double teaming me? I was just trying to make him feel better!”

“Yeah well you suck at that,” Olette hisses as she grabs her purse off of the ugly green couch. “I’m gonna try to catch up with him and talk to him. If I don’t come back, the tape is under the couch. Don’t do stupid things with it.”

Hayner watches in awe as the brunette leaves in a hurry. He sighs and rubs the back of his neck. “You know you messed up when Olette gets mad enough to swear at you…”

Roxas takes a seat on the couch. “I’m not gonna yell at you, but I agree with Olette. I can see how Pence could have interpreted what you said in a bad way.”

“But I didn’t _ mean _it in a bad way. I really was trying to make him feel better. I don’t like thinking that he feels out of place around us, and I definitely don’t want him thinking that we’re using him. I just wanted him to know that I appreciate him being there for us—for me.”

“I understand. I just think there was a better way to say that.”

Hayner groans as he moves to sit next to Roxas. He lets his head fall against the back of the couch and sighs again. “You’re right. Not to be a David Downer but why can’t I ever do things right?”

Roxas stifles a laugh. “_What _ did you just call it?”

“Huh? What?”

“Did you say David?”

Hayner raises an eyebrow. “Yeah? That’s how it goes, right?”

“It’s Debbie.”

Hayner sucks his teeth as Roxas lets out a wheezing laugh. “See, I can’t even say stupid phrase right!”

Roxas desperately tries to pull himself together, but he struggles. A pig like snort echoes in the small space and Roxas covers his mouth and nose as he falls over. His laughter bubbles out uncontrollably. A small part of him feels bad for laughing in what was supposed to be a serious moment, but he can’t help himself.

“Rox, that’s not even funny. Shut your goofy ass up,” Hayner chuckles.

“I’m sorry!” He quickly clears his throat and sniffs. “I’m really sorry. That just caught me off guard. Continue.”

“Are you gonna laugh at me again? Because I‘d really like to be taken seriously.”

Now something is wrong with _ Hayner, _ and he feels even worse for laughing at him. He turns toward his friend, now completely serious. “No, I swear I got it all out. I really am sorry.”

The taller boy waves his hand. “You didn’t mean any harm. I’m just not feeling okay today.”

“Do you wanna talk about it...?”

He shrugs. “I just feel stupid. It doesn’t feel so nice when an overachiever like Olette keeps calling you a doofus or an idiot or a moron. And...yeah, I do stupid things from time to time, but I…” Roxas watches his face contort into something uncomfortable. “It’s her.”

“...What’s her?”

“Olette. She’s my senior year resolution.”

Roxas gasps. “Ohhhh! And you think she thinks you’re stupid or something?”

“I know that she _ knows _I’m stupid and I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell. I probably ruined my chances even more with that whole comic relief thing.”

That’s not true. Or at least Roxas doesn’t think so. Hayner might not be the sharpest tool in the shed but he’s _ not _ stupid. There are a lot of great things about him. He’s athletic, funny, generous, supportive, and not hard to look at. Most of the time, he’s confident and girls really like that. So what if he’s not passing a couple of classes. There’s a lot more to him than just his grades.

“If it helps, I don’t think you’re stupid. I think you have a great chance, actually. Olette’s not shallow enough to only date someone with good grades. Plus, you’ve been friends for years. You have a better chance with her than anyone else. Shut down this pity party, remember who the fuck you are, and ask her out, man.”

Hayner looks over at him with a hopeful expression. “You really think she’ll say yes?”

He knew he couldn’t make any promises, but he wanted Hayner to do his best. He wanted his best friend to be happy. “Only one way to find out. _ Ask._”

Hayner smiles a genuine smile, and Roxas’ day gets a little brighter. “Thanks, man. Oh, and don’t tell anybody else that Olette’s my resolution. I want her to find out from me.”

“It’s not my secret to tell. And I’m sorry if _ I’ve _ever made you feel bad by calling you dumb or anything. I didn’t know it bothered you.”

“Don’t sweat it. We’re cool.”

The two boys bump fists, and Roxas sees his friend visibly relax. He rests his arm on the back of the couch and nudges the other boy with his foot. “Remember what you said on the last day of school?”

Hayner squints as he leans over and reaches under the couch and finds the roll of tape. “See you bitches later?”

“No!” Roxas laughs. “On the walk home. You said that no matter what happened, you’d make this year unforgettable for everyone. I’m still holding you to that.”

The taller boy smirks at his friend as he rips a piece of tape off and sticks one end of it onto his thumb. “As long as you’re there believing in me, I can do anything.”

Roxas smiles. He’ll always be there for him. They were like partners in crime. He can’t imagine ever being anywhere else than right where he is now.

Hayner laughs as he shows Roxas his hand. He has tape on all five of his fingers, and wiggles them to make the tape move. “Look, I’m Stickyman.”

“Olette’s gonna kill you,” Roxas laughs.

“Not if we replace the tape before she finds out. Now are you gonna narc on me or are you gonna suit up and be my trusty sidekick Tape Guy?”

Roxas eyes the roll of tape. Olette specifically told them not to do stupid things with the tape. However… “Can I have a cooler name? I’ll be The Adhesive.”

“Dude, yes. That’s fucking awesome.”

With a devious grim, Roxas takes the roll and begins to apply the tape to his own fingers. ”Who are we even fighting against? Like, does tape have enemies?”

“Oh, for sure,” Hayner says as he waves his hand up and down, causing the tape to flutter wildly. “There’s the Paper Boy, a ruthless villain who goes around giving people paper cuts, Crackwall, a guy with superhuman strength and cinder blocks for hands, and—”

“Wait a minute, what’s up with Crackwall?”

“Well his real name is actually Crackus Wallington the third? He’s like this stuffy billionaire and is into human experimentation, but that’s a secret. He wanted to do experiments on himself to make himself stronger because he was bullied for being weak as a kid, but the experiments went wrong and now: cinder blocks for hands. People call him Crackwall because he’s now strong enough to punch through brick walls. His first act of villainy is to punch a hole in the city dam and flood it out, but we’re gonna stop him.”

Roxas purses his lips in thought. That’s another one of Hayner’s great qualities, he has such a wild imagination and can think up almost anything on the spot. He’s creative, and Roxas has always admired that.

“So what’s the plan for taking down Crackwall?”

“We’re gonna put our super strong tapes together, clothesline him, and knock him out before we send him to jail.”

“And what if I don’t want your tape touching mine?”

Hayner gasps. “Are you saying you don’t want to touch tapes with me? I’m hurt!”

They share a laugh. Hayner attempt to touch Roxas’ face with his taped up hand, and he bats it away. “You’re a mess.”

“I’m _ your _mess, so joke’s on you.”

Roxas blinks once, twice, and looks up at the other boy through his lashes. After a few moments of watching him be silly with the tape, he looks down at his own hand and smiles.

“My mess…” he mumbles under his breath.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading. I already have a lot planned for this series so I hope you like what’s to come.


End file.
